Ask the Author: Alan Killip
Answered Questions (6)
Alan Killip
I've always liked reading articles on James Lovelock, enjoyed his lecture to the Royal Society and I recently read the Revenge of Gaia. I'm interested in the idea of looking at the planet as a massive ancient life form that has an intelligence that we can't begin to fathom, and that trying to impose our own agenda on the planet is futile. I also appreciate technological optimism, so I'd like to pit these two attitudes against each other, not to put forward any theory or moral point of view but to explore and see what characters and situations emerge.
Alan Killip
Having a coffee first thing in the morning, going for a run, walking in the country or the city, listening to people's anecdotes, overhearing conversations in the street, on public transport or in cafe's, keeping an eye out for the occasional nuggets that occur in my own inner burblings.
Alan Killip
I'm editing a science fiction thriller called Hammond Flux, Life After Flesh, which is written from the point of view of someone who uploads their mind and becomes a digital being. It's nearly there, just needs some tweaks. And I'm thinking about another novel. The working title is Antarctica, the World's Lush Green Crown. It's set five thousand years in the future in an iceless world. I'm thinking an elite manage to carve out a superstate in Antarctica while the rest of the world sweats in an Eocene hell. Plenty of opportunity for drama.
Alan Killip
Start, and if you've already started keep going.
Indulge yourself in experiments: your inner censor is for editing, not for creating.
Don't pigeon-hole yourself. You will find out what sort of writer you are by writing.
Don't be afraid to seek feedback at all stages.
Indulge yourself in experiments: your inner censor is for editing, not for creating.
Don't pigeon-hole yourself. You will find out what sort of writer you are by writing.
Don't be afraid to seek feedback at all stages.
Alan Killip
Seeing something you couldn't have anticipated take shape on the page.
Alan Killip
I treat it as an opportunity to be more creative, and I set myself word count quota. So I promise myself that I will write something, even if it's awful. The thing that nearly blocked me when writing Hammond Flux was how to represent his internal world, his subjective experience, and the transition to that from real life. It turned out to be one of the most satisfying things to write.
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